Building Digital Capacity
Funded by: Arts Council England
Arts Council England (ACE) was one of the founding funders of The Space when we launched in 2014 and it has funded us continuously since then.
We delivered a large-scale Building Digital Capacity Programme for ACE. This supported arts and cultural organisations in England to produce digital content and distribute it effectively online and via national and international broadcasters.
Programme activities included:
- Commissioning more than 70 digital projects from cultural organisations
- Providing free webinars, training events and, online resources
- Offering mentoring to senior leaders in cultural organisations to help develop their digital content strategies
- Creating roles for digital freelancers to provide the sector with required skills
- Supporting the sector with strategic challenges such as managing digital content rights or improving the accessibility of online content.
Sky Arts ‘Unlocked’
Funded by: Arts Council England
In recognition of Coventry’s year as the UK’s City of Culture, The Space partnered with Sky Arts, Coventry City of Culture Trust, Arts Council England, and Coventry’s emerging artist platform, Shoot Festival, to discover and unlock the potential of ten diverse Coventry artists. This unique collaboration provided participants with an opportunity to tell new, insightful stories on a national platform.
Coventry Library Services Digital Spaces
Funders and partners: Arts Council England, BBC, BFI, Coventry Libraries Service
This programme enabled visitors to Coventry’s Central Library and local libraries in Bell Green, Foleshill and Tile Hill to experience Virtual Reality and immersive audio content. Users could choose from an extensive and regularly updated range of content from the BBC and other international producers as well as locally produced immersive short films.
The programme also offered local communities the opportunity to work with digital artists and digital tools to create and curate material about their own personal histories and cultural backgrounds. It also provided training to librarians to deliver and market these new opportunities for public engagement. The project helped re-imagine what libraries might offer their communities in these digital spaces, educating, entertaining and providing opportunities to build digital confidence and creativity.
Creative Digital Initiative, Scotland
Funded by: Creative Scotland
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, this programme was designed to grow the skills, knowledge, confidence, and enthusiasm of creative businesses in Scotland in key areas of their digital activity and allowed them to publish works that engage audiences online.
The programme commissioned 10 Scottish organisations, that reflect the nation’s diversity, to create new digital works. As well as receiving production funding, each organisation benefitted from expert support from The Space’s team and digital associates, spanning digital production, content distribution, audience development and online rights.
Culture in Quarantine
Funders and partners: Arts Council England, Arts Council of Northern Irelanc, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales and BBC
Through Culture in Quarantine, The Space, BBC, Arts Council England, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts Council of Wales and Creative Scotland celebrated the work of disabled artists through twelve audio commissions hosted across BBC platforms.
Bringing art into people’s homes during lockdown, the commissions provided a platform to champion the work of disabled artists, helping them produce work and providing a platform to explore their experiences of Covid-19.
Youthful Cities – Coventry/Nairobi Digital Storytelling Lab
Funded by: British Council
This programme was a cultural and creative skills exchange for emerging digital artists, makers, storytellers and activists from Coventry and Nairobi. Coordinated by The Space in partnership with the British Council, Coventry City of Culture and Youthful Cities.
The selected artists, chosen through an open call, collaborated as part of international teams supported by experts. They were taught to use immersive and interactive digital storytelling tools, platforms, and techniques to co-create new work and reach audiences online.
